Chapter One- First Meeting (1974)
The platform was crowded, the never-ending bustle of students getting ready to depart for Hogwarts caused the station to be filled with noise, making it hard to hear the instructions her parents were trying to fill her head with. For what it was worth, Melody wasn't really listening to them. She was taking in as much of her surroundings as she could as this was her first time on the platform, and this would be her first trip to Hogwarts. All around her students rushed past, pushing their trunks or catching up with friends they hadn't seen over the summer break.
Melody was a student from Beauxbatons, but she had been forced to transfer when her father had gotten a job with the Ministry of Magic in London, and her mother didn't want to leave her behind in France. Not with you-know-who on the rise. So here she was at the age of 15, seeing the Hogwarts Express for the first time.
"Melody, are you even listening to me?" Her mother's harsh tone cut over the constant drone of the happenings of the platform. Melody felt herself being pulled back, her parents gaining her full attention. "Now I don't want to hear from your cousins that you have fallen in with the wrong crowd. Do not drag our name through the mud simply because you are feeling rebellious. No more stunts like the ones you pulled in France."
"I won't, mother." Melody fought the urge to roll her eyes. Constance, her mother, might as well come out and say it: she wasn't allowed to hang out with muggle-borns. "I probably won't see many anyway, because the chances that I will be placed somewhere other than Slytherin are slim to none, mother."
"And don't you forget it." Constance nodded proudly. She had worked hard to make sure to raise her daughter with the proper ideals of a pureblood, and to uphold the family tradition of going to Hogwarts and being a part of House Slytherin. France was merely a blip. She did not want to see that get ruined. "Now the train is getting ready to leave; off you go."
Melody received a curt nod from her quiet father, Richard, and a brief kiss on the cheek from her mother. With that her parents turned away without another glance to make sure she got on it or anything. It wasn't that they were cold or anything, Melody had never felt unloved. Their way of showing it was just a little off compared to other families.
Melody sighed and turned towards the steam train. She was about to step forward and up the steps into the train when a black haired kid rushed past her towards his friends. She followed him as he hugged his friend with messy hair in that way guys do. With a brief slap on the back they separated, and turned toward where she was standing. As soon as she got a good look at his face, she knew he was a Black. He was Regulus' older brother, Sirius. She had been to several functions with her parents but had hardly seen the older Black son, just the younger one. She had certainly never spoken to him.
He began to walk right past her as she continued to stare. He was better looking than his younger brother, Melody would give him that. His black hair was long, but she found on him it worked to his advantage. He probably knew it did too. The charm and smugness rolled off of him in waves. It almost annoyed her, if it hadn't been working. Soon the duo was joined by two other boys, a quiet one and one that reminded her of a mouse or rat who hung out in the background.
"Excuse me." Melody cleared her throat to speak loudly enough for the four friends to hear her over their friendly banter. The four stopped talking, and turned slowly to look at her in surprise as if just realizing that she was there. "You are blocking the entrance."
"And what a tragedy that is." Sirius laughed, but he stepped aside all the same with a swoop of his arms as though presenting her with the doorway. "So sorry, madame, your chariot awaits."
"Yes, so sorry." His friend with the messy hair mirrored the move on the other side of the door, however he held out his hand to help her up the few steps. "Please allow us to escort you to a compartment."
"Uh… Thank you, but I think I can find my own." Melody hesitated at this show of grandeur. She had heard that Sirius Black was a jokester, but didn't want to put it to the test herself. She was fine with jokes, as long as they didn't hurt anyone. She was about to take a step between the two boys, but they stood up and blocked her path again. "Please let me through."
"Are you too good for us?" Sirius asked, crossing his arms, mock glaring at her. "Don't want to hang out with a bunch of rowdy guys?"
"I just want to make it to school." Melody answered honestly. The two boys glanced at each other as smiles broke out on their faces. She could feel herself starting to get annoyed. "What now?"
"They are annoying, aren't they?" The quiet friend stepped up beside her before the other two could answer. He looked at her kindly, and she understood that he wasn't entirely like the other two. She offered him a weak smile. "I'm Remus by the way. And those two are James Potter and Siri-"
"Sirius Black. I know." Melody smiled again but it was more for herself due to the looks of surprise on all four of their faces. She had learned to take joy in the small things life gave you a long time ago.
"Wait a minute…" Sirius stepped closer to Melody, his eyes narrowed as he tried to place her face to her name. "I know you. You're Melody Crowe. Our parents are in the same circle. I was at your house over the summer holiday. Though I guess up until this year it was just your summer house."
"Yes, you were. You even made fun of my dress at the function." Melody nodded, trying to step around Sirius, but he mirrored her and got in her way. "Will you please get out of my way? You've had your fun, but I would really like to get on the train now as I don't want to be stuck without a compartment to sit in."
Melody once again tried to step around him, and once again Sirius stepped in her way. Rolling her eyes, she blew a strand of blonde hair off her face. Taking a deep breath, she took a step towards him, grabbed his lapels and planted a kiss on his lips. He went statue still, which gave her the chance to sneak around him, and on to the train.
"Toodles." Melody waggled her fingers as she disappeared into the train, leaving the four boys stunned on the platform.
She rushed to find a thankfully empty compartment where she could be alone with her thoughts. What had she been thinking?! She had kissed him! She hadn't meant to kiss him, but she couldn't think of anything else to do to get him out of her way. What made him decide to single her out like that was beyond her. He hadn't even known who she was when he started. She needed to get a grip.
With a huff she dropped into the window seat as she felt the train start to leave the station. Leaning her head back, and closing her eyes, she sighed. She had the whole train ride to come to terms with what she had done. Her mother would be thrilled with the match. That thought had her snorting out loud.
"What's so funny?" Sirius' voice rang through her thoughts. Melody's eyes flew open, and she saw the four boys standing in the open compartment door. She hadn't even heard it open. "All the other compartments are full, so you are stuck with us."
The boys entered the compartment, and slid the door closed behind them. Remus sat beside her, with the three boys across from them. Sirius sat directly across from her at the window seat. He leaned his elbow on the window sill, and stared at her as though thinking.
Melody did her best not to meet his gaze, and stared out the window as the English country side flew by on their way to Scotland. She could feel his eyes on her the whole time, making it so she couldn't enjoy what she was seeing. She hadn't travelled much in England until the past summer when her parents had finally started taking her on their trips. She had really looked forward to seeing this part of the country. But Sirius was ruining it for her.
"Why did you kiss me?" Sirius asked, his voice ringing out in the quiet compartment. 20 minutes of silence had passed, and no one had said a word. Everyone looked up at him, a little startled by the sudden noise.
Melody slowly turned her head to meet his grey gaze. She hoped she achieved the look of boredom she was trying to mask her face with. "It was a means to an end. I needed you out of my way, and you weren't moving. I did what I had to."
"Is that right?" Sirius chuckled and leaned back in his seat. Melody had to admit, he had a nice smile when it reached his eyes. It was a quick moment though, as the thoughtful look fell over his face again. He briefly touched his fingers to his lips, but took them away when he noticed her staring.
"Would you like it to have meant more?" Melody leaned back also. She would play his game. For now.
"No." Sirius snapped quickly. He scowled when she raised an eyebrow in his direction. "It's not as though I've never been kissed before."
"Ah yes, that's right." Melody rolled her eyes. "I had heard you were a real Casanova. And from what I saw this past summer, the rumour isn't entirely wrong."
"Well you can't believe everything you hear." Sirius shrugged, not committing to the statement one way or another. It earned him an elbow from James.
"But you can believe most of it." James piped in, wrapping his arm around Sirius' shoulders. "This guy has more than his fair share of women fawning over him day and night. More than one has tried to slip him a love potion."
"Sod off!" Sirius pushed James away. "Besides, we can't all pine after one girl for 3 years. It's not like we all have our own Lily Evans to chase."
"Lily Evans?" Melody prompted. She was finding this whole exchange amusing. Clearly neither boy wanted the other to share too much, but they couldn't help themselves. Censorship did not seem to be a word in their vocabulary.
"James has been in love with her since first year." Remus supplied when Sirius and James seemed to get lost in their own bantering world. "I'm sure you will meet her eventually. She tries to get along with everyone, even people that are better avoided."
"Like who?" That had piqued Melody's interest. She found she could learn a lot on the ride to the Hogwarts from these four. If the information turned out to be useless, she could forget it. But it was better to be overly prepared than not at all.
"Severus Snape." Remus lowered his voice, casting a nervous look at James and Sirius, who had not heard. "He's a Death Eater in the making for sure. It doesn't help that he is in Slytherin. That House seems to spawn Death Eaters."
"Are you talking about Snivellus?" James tuned in suddenly, ditching his conversation with Sirius. Melody was glad for the distraction as no one noticed her blush. Of the group, Sirius would be the only one who could rat on her for being a pureblood from a family with very entrenched views on the matter. But he seemed to be keeping silent about that part.
"Not really." Remus shrugged. As much as he didn't like Snape, he also didn't think his friends were wise about how they went about dealing with the kid. "Just chatting about people at Hogwarts in general."
"Well you had best stay away from Snivellus. He is creep to say the least." James scowled, most likely his thoughts going back to Lily and her friendship with Snape. "It's best to give the Slytherins a wide berth all together, not just individuals."
"But that isn't to say that there aren't certain ones you should avoid more than others." Sirius leaned in, getting in on the conversation. "Snivellus is definitely one of them. Along with Malfoy."
"As in Lucius Malfoy?" Melody asked, trying to keep calm. This group clearly hated the house she was probably going to get sorted into. She didn't feel threatened, but she was starting to like this group's dynamic, and she could see herself fitting in with them very easily.
"The one and only." Sirius nodded, catching her eye. Melody looked at him, hoping she had on a face of indifference. It didn't matter what she looked like this, Sirius saw right through her if the small reassuring smile was anything to go by. "Thank Merlin for that."
Melody leaned back in her seat, and started staring out the window again. Sirius would keep her secret for now. Obviously it would come out if she was sorted into Slytherin, but for this train ride at least, she could rest easy. In the reflection of the window, Melody saw Sirius touch his lips one more time before joining in the lively debate about the best Quidditch team.
"I for one like the Chudley Cannons." Melody tossed out into the conversation just to get the boys riled up. She laughed as they immediately jumped all over her words with rebuttals about how their glory days are over contrary to being really good in the previous century.
Melody blinked several times as the scene before became foggy. She felt the familiar pull of being sucked out of the memory. When she blinked again, she was back in her office in her London flat overlooking a quiet little park. The Pensieve rippled, and then quieted as the memory faded. She waved her wand to replace the memory bottle back to it's place on the shelf above the Pensieve.
Melody had watched the scene a thousand times from the same place outside the compartment on the Hogwarts Express. She wished she hadn't gotten so caught up in the sights that she could remember more about what happened in that compartment. More of what had been said. She wished she had paid more attention to Sirius. But hindsight was difficult that way.
Wiping a tear from her eye, Melody left the office. She had had a dream about him last night, which made her need to see him again. Picking up the newspaper she had abandoned along with her coffee, she sat down in the breakfast nook. Pulling her legs up under her on the bench seat, she unfolded the paper and began to read.
February 14th, 1993. It was Valentine's day. She hated this day. It only reminded her of what she couldn't have, and hadn't had for 12 years now. The paper was light for news apparently, as the front page featured a fluff piece by Rita Skeeter. Melody couldn't stand her and her over exaggeration of the truth. Why did it have to be Valentine's Day. Didn't she suffer enough? Stupid Rita Skeeter, and stupid February 14th.
Melody threw her coffee mug still filled with coffee across the room, where it shattered against the wall. She tried to take deep breaths as she watched the black coffee drip down the cream coloured wall. She ran her hands through her long blonde hair, wanting to rip it out. How could it still hurt this much after this many years?
Her palm burned as if to remind her how it could still feel so fresh. Looking down at her right hand, she stroked the long thin scar on her palm as though trying to sooth it. It wouldn't work. It wasn't for her it was burning. Sirius was in pain, and this was her price for loving him.